“No till” farming has recently gained popularity among conservationists and economically minded farmers as a way to reduce erosion, fuel consumption, irrigation and fertilizer runoff. The “no till” concept removes the step of tilling a previous crop prior to planting the next successive crop.
Due to increased attention on water runoff holding of agricultural nutrients and erosion concerns and herbicide resistant weeds, there is gaining popularity of growing large cover crops between cash crops in the late fall and early spring time period. The cover crops are then rolled down or pushed over to create a thick mat of residue that addresses most of these concerns. Although Applicant has observed significantly reduced weed growth due to the high residue, weed growth may still occur as a result of weeds growing through the mat of residue, causing problems at later stages of the crop cycle.